Iran's blogger

August 21, 2006

ANOTHER OPINIONFrom the Los Angeles Times Family troubles, school exams, hero worship: It's the stuff of millions of blogs, from a teenager's MySpace page to a ghostwritten celebrity confessional. And Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as it turns out, isn't that different from millions of other bloggers. In his year in power, Ahmadinejad has veered between amusingly offensive and shockingly offensive. As of Friday, he has a new venue for his personality: www.ahmadinejad.ir. The president of Iran has his own blog. And he may just turn Iran's blogosphere into a blogocracy. So far, his blog consists of one 2,000-word entry, titled "autobiography." Playing a familiar tune, he focuses on his impoverished youth, calling his father a "hard-bitten toiler blacksmith" and bragging about coming in 132nd out of 400,000 students in his exams, despite a test-time nosebleed. He praises Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led Iran's 1979 revolution, as having a "valiant heart." And like many a blogger (but few politicians), he apologizes for his verbosity. It seems like a savvy move to give Iranians a chance to see his personal side and communicate with him online. But faux populism only works, if at all, in the short term. And Ahmadinejad is not especially known for reasoned commentary. After winning a hotly contested and controversial election last June, Ahmadinejad promised "moderation" on domestic policy and declared that Iranians, reformers included, were "a big family." Then, within months, he launched a crackdown on the media -- and on Iran's blogging scene, among the most vibrant in the Middle East. His anti-Israel statements (he declared it should be "wiped off the map") win cheers at rallies in Tehran, but officially his administration plays down his views. His nuclear ambitions win him popular favor but international reproach. And when he has tried out his populist appeal abroad, he has not been successful. In June, Ahmadinejad signaled a desire to attend the World Cup to root for Iran -- no doubt wanting to show that Iran can play nice at soccer and, by extension, at diplomacy. But he ended up canceling his plans, perhaps because of the outcry he provoked within Europe. On Aug. 13, he appeared on "60 Minutes" and avoided answering most questions, although he did manage to share his concern about the state of the U.S. health care system ("I am very saddened to hear that ... 45 million people don't have ... health care"). Populism, as any politician or blogger can attest, can backfire. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have already answered his blog's poll: Are the U.S. and Israel deliberately starting a world war in the Middle East? Fifty-one percent say "no." If that sort of response continues, Ahmadinejad may have to censor his own blog.